Revenge, Justice or Insanity in 'Death and the Maiden'



Photo: Ken Stanek Photography

Chilean playwright Ariel Dorfman felt compelled to write about his own experiences as a witness to the ghastliness of the General Augusto Pinochet dictatorship in his country from 1973-1990.   He penned Death and the Maiden in 1990 to convey those horrors, especially the effects on the minds of the victims stemming from the torture and rape of political prisoners. 

Death and the Maiden first appeared in London in November 1990.  The original Broadway production opened at the Brooks Atkinson Theater in New York on March 1992 and ran for 159 performances. It was directed by Mike Nichols and starred Glenn Close, Gene Hackman and Richard Dreyfuss. 

The play, as part of the Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre’s 52^nd season, is a potent psychodrama that under the direction of Anthony Lane Hinkle and the sterling cast consisting of Kate Falcone, Steven Shriner and Mark C. Franceschini, keeps the audience spellbound throughout and wondering what will happen next—even following the play’s denouement.

For full review, visit MD Theatre Guide.